Dina Mann
Australian actress and casting director
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Dina Mann (born c. 1950), also credited as Diana Mann, is an Australian former actress and later casting director recognised for several television soap opera and film roles from 1970 until 1985, after which she worked as a casting director until 2014. She is probably best known for her role as rebellious 15-year old schoolgirl Debbie Chester in the latter years of TV serial Number 96 in which she featured from 1975 until 1977, in 137 episodes. The character was involved in several controversial storylines including her character being introduced to heroin, and losing her mum in a shark attack.[2]
Career
Mann appeared in numerous character roles starting from the 1970s and specialised in playing characters much younger than herself in adult-themed dramas and comedies. Her roles in Australian television programs, including several appearances in the Crawford Productions police dramas Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police, were nearly all teenage characters. Her first television role was in an episode of Delta where she played a 15-year-old who appeared in a semi-nude swimming scene. Mann also played a schoolgirl in the hit sex-comedy feature film Alvin Purple (1973) and was a young female cricketer in its 1974 sequel Alvin Purple Rides Again.
She later played the more permanent role of schoolgirl Debbie Chester in adult soap opera Number 96. She joined the show in late 1975 as part of a new family that was introduced which included Suzanne Church (born United Kingdom, 9 October 1951)[3] as her sister Jane Chester and former radio actress Patti Crocker as her mum Eileen Chester, she continued until its final episode in August 1977. She subsequently played guest roles in prison-based soap opera Prisoner, first appearing as the rebellious Debbie, the daughter of Ken Pearce (Tom Oliver), in 1980 and again in 1981. She reappeared in the series in 1983 playing a different character, and made other guest appearances in Australian television series until the mid-1980s.
Since the mid-1980s she has worked as a casting director on various Australian films and television productions.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Exit | Jessica | Short film |
| 1973 | Alvin Purple | Shirley | Feature film |
| 1974 | Petersen | Robin | Feature film |
| 1974 | Alvin Rides Again | Woman Cricketer | Feature film |
| 1983 | A Slice of Life | Barbara | Feature film |
| 1984 | Anna | Welfare Officer | TV movie |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Delta | Daphne | TV series, episode: "The Honeymoon Blows" |
| 1973 | Ryan | Nikki | TV series, episode: "Tribe" |
| 1971–1974 | Homicide | Anne Gardner / Jenny Robinson / Kate Maxwell | TV series, 3 episodes: "Death on the Vine", "The Adventurer", "You've Gotto Do Something" |
| 1972–1974 | Division 4 | Pup / Nurse / Sally / Bev Compton / Josie / Nancy | TV series, 6 episodes: "Rogues Gallery", "Andrew Shannon", The Oracle", "Traveling Man", "For My Next Trick", "Man of Substance", |
| 1975 | Silent Number | Sharon Lane | TV series, episode: "Exposed to Moral Danger" |
| 1973–1975 | Matlock Police | Miss Cox / Beris / Shelli | TV series, 3 episodes: "The Recurrence of Randy McBain", "The Germ Bomb", "The Son" |
| 1975–1977 | Number 96 | Debbie Chester | TV series, 137 episodes |
| 1978 | Chopper Squad | Sis | TV series, episode: "Lifeboat" |
| 1979 | Skyways | Fiona Woods | TV series, 6 episodes: "Arrivals", "Departures", "Levelling Out", "Overtures", "Knife Edge", "Who Killed Cock Robyn" |
| 1978–1980 | Cop Shop | Laurel Drummond / Linda Perry | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Mandy | TV series, episode: "The Set-Up" |
| 1980; 1984 | Prisoner | Debbie Pearce / Samantha Russell | TV series |
| 1984 | Infinity Limited | Lucy | TV series |
| 1985 | The Flying Doctors | Mrs. Watson | TV series |